Metro News & Reviews

How We Roll, June 12: Pride & Resist, CicLAvia, gas tax increase not super popular (yet)

Pride: a reasonable or justifiable self-respect. Resist: to exert force in opposition.

Photos by Steve Hymon/Metro.

Thanks to everyone who Went Metro to Pride Festival and Resist march this weekend. A lot of folks used the Red Line to reach Hollywood and Highland, where the march began Sunday and the above pics were taken.

As per usual, the CicLAvia event on Sunday in Glendale and Atwater Village attracted a big crowd. The open streets event was a recipient of a Metro Open Streets grant. Some other social media from the event:

The opposition is widespread. Voters in all major regions of the state other than the Bay Area, all listed races and ethnic subgroups, and all age categories over 30 are unhappy about it. Strongly liberal voters are the only group in which a large majority supports the law.

The tax increase and a hike in state vehicle registration fees (which begin in 2018) was approved by the Assembly and Senate in April and signed by Gov. Jerry Brown. The revenues will go to road improvement/maintenance projects, as well as transit.

There is an effort underway to put a recall of the increase before state voters and the Bee suggests that some Democrats who supported the increase could pay the price at the polls next year although I’m guessing those challenges would have to be from other Democrats given that so few Assembly or Senate districts are really in play (i.e. they either strongly go for Democrats or Republicans).

The average gas price across the U.S. on Friday was the lowest it has been since 2005 — in some places barely above $2 a gallon (while $3.06 in California). One thing helping gas prices is increased American oil production in recent years.

The Post reports that infrastructure has become big business for private firms such as Goldman Sachs, BlackRock and Morgan Stanley are looking to plow billions of dollars into infrastructure projects and the government of Saudi Arabia is also hoping to get into the American infrastructure game through BlackRock.

The story on Chinese high bridges is not directly related, but it’s a good reminder that a lot of the shining new infrastructure rising in China is accumulating debt for local governments there. The Chinese government argues that new infrastructure is lifting the nation’s economy but some locals question the cost and the benefits.

Check out the pics, though. Pretty spectacular structures. And here’s a video from the Wall Street Journal: